The Little Nightmare
by BaronessBlixen
Summary: After David watches The Little Mermaid, Niles tells his son the real story - with unexpected results. Post-Series. One-shot.


**A/N**: _Not much plot, just fluff. I promise to update "We'll Make The Rules As We Go" soon, too. I just needed to write something light without having to think first. So enjoy!_

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As Niles finally closed the door to his office, he sighed. He hadn't planned to spend so many hours with work this Saturday. He didn't have enough time for David and Daphne as it was. They had dropped off their son at Roz' early in the morning, because Daphne had had to take Martin for a check-up at the hospital and Niles, of course, had needed to finish some paperwork. It was early afternoon now and Niles couldn't wait to pick up his son. The weather was beautiful, neither too warm nor too cold, and while he wasn't fond of outdoor activities, David was. His son liked to kick balls that Niles didn't even know the names of. As long as his son was happy, he was, too. Naturally, he would have loved his son to be a miniature version of himself, but he couldn't deny that his son, in his eyes at least, was perfect. He was a perfect blend of both his parents' families. A true Moon-Crane. Niles chuckled at his attempt at humor. He parked his car in front of Roz' building and quickly went inside.

Alice opened the door and seemed glad to see Niles there. He was always amazed how much this little girl had grown in the last few years. The older she got, the more she looked like her mother. Since Roz had mellowed down, she and Niles had almost become friends. They still bickered from time to time, but they were both parents and somehow that fact alone had brought them closer together.

"Are you here to pick up David?" Alice asked before she let him in.

"Yes, I am. Did you have fun playing with him?" The girl loved David to pieces. When he had been smaller, she had often carried him around and pretended he was her son. He had been like a life-sized doll to her. David had never complained. In many ways, the two children were like brother and sister. Since Niles and Daphne hadn't been blessed with another child, he was glad he at least had Alice.

"No, I did not," she emphasized, "He wanted to watch _The Little Mermaid_ twice!" Alice seemed to be disgusted. Niles still remembered a time when she had been crazy about this movie.

"I thought you liked that movie."

"Well, duh, I liked it when I was like a baby. I'm almost 11 years old, you know?"

"Of course." Niles turned away from her so she didn't see his grin. He saw his son glued to the TV screen. Roz was next to him, obviously explaining something.

"Mom, Uncle Niles is here to pick up David!" Roz lifted her head, David did not. Niles felt weirdly disappointed. For his son, he was a given thing. Whatever he was watching on TV was simply more important at the moment. Psychologically, Niles understood it. In his heart however, he felt rejected.

"Thanks for watching him." Niles told Roz when she approached him.

"Oh please. Your son is an angel." He beamed at Roz' words. It was true; David was an angel and a miracle. Usually, Roz was the kind of person to roll her eyes at a statement like that so for once Niles just kept his thoughts to himself.

"Hey buddy, your dad's here." David finally looked up at his father. After a short moment he gave him a huge grin.

"Dad, I watched The Little Mermaid! Twice!"

"That's wonderful, David. How about we'll go home now?" David looked at Roz, then at the TV. He nodded solemnly at no one in particular and got up from the floor. He held out his hand to say goodbye to Roz and Alice, just like he had been taught. Alice almost ushered him out of the apartment.

"Thanks again, Roz."

"No problem. You guys have babysat Alice so often, it's the least I can do." Niles took his son's hand and together they left.

In the car, David was still talking about Ariel and some fish named Flounder. The little boy kept cracking up about someone named Sebastian. Niles had never seen The Little Mermaid and could hardly follow his son's fast, incoherent words.

"It is my favorite movie, dad. Can we buy it?"

"Oh, I don't know, David. You already have so many movies."

"But not this one and it is my favorite." The boy insisted. He always did this; everything he wanted to have was either his favorite or the best thing ever. In the past, he and Daphne had often been persuaded, but they knew they couldn't grant him every wish.

"You know, how about I tell you the real story of The Little Mermaid?"

"I know the story."

"But the movie is only based on the story. Remember how I explained to you the difference?" Instead of answering, David just sighed. Niles chose to ignore it and went on:

"You know The Little Mermaid is actually a fairy tale – a written fairy tale and it is really old –"

"As old as grandpa?"

"Even older! It's over a hundred years old and was written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen,"

"That's a weird name." David interjected.

"Remember, he was Danish. Anyway, the original story did not have a happy ending."

"What?" David whispered reverently. By now he was clutching his little pack bag, afraid to let go. Niles parked the car and while David usually jumped right out, this time he didn't move. His eyes were wide and Niles wondered what was wrong.

"David, we're home."

"How did it end, dad? The story?"

"Why don't you get out of the car first?" David shook his head no and just waited. Niles sat next to his son in the back of the car and realized he might have done something wrong. He just couldn't understand what.

"Well, the story is pretty much the same… Ariel falls in love with the prince and she has to give up her voice to be with him. Only in the original story he doesn't fall in love with her. He falls for the girl he thinks who saved him." He deliberately stopped there, but his young son was too intelligent to not know the story didn't end there.

"So Ariel went back to being a mermaid?" There was so much childish hope in David's small voice that Niles was tempted to tell him a lie.

"Uhm, not really. The Sea Witch tells Ariel that once she has legs, she can never return to being a mermaid. In order to obtain a human soul, she has to receive true love's kiss or she… turns into sea foam." David gasped. He hugged the bag pack even closer and stared at his father, who realized that he had just broken his son's heart by simply telling him the truth – and he wasn't even done.

"Her sisters try to save her and tell her that if she kills the prince and lets his blood drip over her legs, she will once again be a mermaid. But she can't make herself kill him and so she walks into the sea where she turns into foam, just like the Sea Witch has predicted."

"That is the end?" David asked; his voice was barely a whisper. He was trying to keep his tears at bay, but it was hard. Niles tried to smile at him, but it just didn't work.

"Yes, that's the end. Come on, let's go home."

David had kept unusually quiet the rest of the evening. He went to sleep without making any fuss. When Daphne finally got ready for bed, she asked Niles if anything had happened.

"Well, I told him a story."

"He didn't seem bored, Niles. More like heartbroken," She gave her husband a sweet smile, before she turned serious again, "You think something happened at Roz' place?"

"Thank you for assuming that all my stories are boring. Believe me, this one wasn't boring." Niles stopped, because he was afraid of what Daphne would say if he told her about what had happened earlier. Before either of them could say another word, the door opened and a tousled David walked in. With his eyes red and puffy, he stood uncertainly in the door frame.

"Honey, what's the matter?" Daphne asked, crouching down to his level. David tried to answer, but he just started crying.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Niles asked. This had happened a few times before and normally, David wouldn't be this non-verbal.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Daphne picked him up and put him on the bed. David looked at his father, then nodded softly.

"Ariel turned into sea foam and Flounder was so sad. Sebastian was sad, too." Daphne was confused, but Niles, of course, knew what this was all about.

"You know, Ariel is fine. She married the prince, right? You watched her marry him twice today!" After a moment of thinking about it, David nodded.

"See, nothing happened. No one turned into sea foam." The boy didn't seem relieved in the least. Daphne gently stroked his back to calm him down and his eyes slowly grew heavier.

"You can sleep here tonight, David. Just for tonight." The boy nodded before he was fast asleep again. He was snoring slightly, when Daphne looked angrily at Niles. She had obviously put two and two together – with the result that Niles was to blame for this.

"What kind of story did you tell him?" She whispered angrily. While David wasn't a light sleeper, she was scared to wake him up again.

"I told him the story of The Little Mermaid."

"Apparently you did not tell him the Disney version."

"Of course not. I told him the original story – the one Disney should have been telling, too."

"Oh Niles." Daphne sighed.

"I'm really sorry. I'll go buy the film tomorrow and watch it as many times as he wants." Just the thought of it pained him. Sometimes he wished his son would enjoy the same things he loved. David enjoyed classical music and the opera, but his real passions were Disney movies and ball sports. He would have to make peace with it.

"Well, you better. No wonder he's been so heartbroken."

"All those happy endings are unrealistic." Niles tried to defend his actions.

"He'll learn that for himself. When he's older. Also," Daphne grinned at him and kissed him so softly on the lips that Niles almost forgot what this whole argument was about, "Sometimes happy endings do happen, don't they?"

"I-I guess." He admitted and kissed her back a bit more forcefully. He realized they couldn't do anything else tonight as David was sleeping between them. It didn't matter. He had tried to teach his son something today, only to realize it had been too early. In the end he had learned something himself. With that in mind, he mentally prepared himself to watch The Little Mermaid after all.

**THE END**


End file.
